SBC Looks at New Marketing Entry Challenges for Sports Betting Firms in USA

Ahead of next week's highly anticipated SBC Summit North America, for which Gambling911.com will be covering, Conor Porter speaks with a handful of industry experts regarding the challenges of entering the U.S.. sports betting market.  It's already become saturated in some jurisdictions (i.e. New Jersey).

Jon Bowden, CMO at PlayStar, says that the main challenge is standing out from the competition.

"Take the US, for example," he said. "Right now, there is a huge amount of brand investment taking place, so when it comes to making your debut you need to stand out to potential new players and you’re not going to achieve that by doing the same as every other brand in the market."

Marina Bogard, Managing Director US at Betsson Group, emphasized that "rising above the noise of those who came in early will be a challenge".

She adds: "Marketing and acquisition costs continue to increase with elusive margins. Nobody is in profitable territory right now so the ability to sustain operations while building out the market will be key."

This is despite some of the bigger brand names spending millions in advertising.

Allan Petrilli, VP of Sales and Growth at Intelitics, says that it is vital for operators to partner with established media powerhouses, many of whom have been around far longer than the regulated industry in the USA post the 2018 Supreme Court decision overturning the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act.

A relatively new concept may be allowing successful gamblers to actually play.

Speaking on "Beating the Book" with Gill Alexander Wednesday, professional sports bettor Captain Jack Andrews claimed that he knows of "sharp" books preparing to enter the regulated U.S. sports betting market.

As an operator, he says, "it behooves me to partner with somebody who is going to try to get a different segment of the audience, a different vertical, and that's what is allowing a lot of these market access deals to open up for some of these smaller operators that aren't going to be doing the blitz of marketing.  They're gonna have the blitz of 'we are gonna have the best price, we are gonna take your action'."

- Chris Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher